Chapter Fifty-two: The Bat's Scream

  A sultry night, filled with oppressive air, waiting for a storm to arrive.

  Lucien chose a completely different road from last time, and after more than ten minutes, he walked to the vicinity of an abandoned house with tall willow trees in front of the door.

  However, Lucien did not go out directly, but secretly observed. In the shade of a willow tree, three men in black robes with their faces covered by hoods were standing. Judging from their height and build, one was Smael, one was Xian, and the other Lucien dared not confirm whether it was which magical apprentice he had seen last time.

  Lucien walked a circle in the nearby shadows, didn't find any ambush, but also didn't relax because of this. After returning to the original hiding position, he accurately took out a black, strange-shaped casting material from a row of small pockets inside his waistband lining.

  Lucien opened his mouth, as if to chant a spell, but no sound came out. Instead, the material in his palm began to vibrate rapidly, faster and faster, with waves of invisible ripples spreading outward from it.

  "Bat's Scream", Lucien created his first magic of his own.

  It was Lucien's imitation of bats using ultrasonic waves to "explore" the principle, that is, a biological version of radar, using ultrasonic waves in conjunction with the apprentice-level magic "Detecting Magical Light" and spiritual power to check if there are people hiding around.

  Lucien knew when he learned "Detect Magic Glow" that magic apprentices and formal magicians had many methods to hide their own magic glow, but under the sixth ring, all methods of covering up magic glow required that there was no gain or defensive magic in effect at the same time, unless it was a constant magical effect. Therefore, normally after releasing a spell to conceal one's own magic glow, there would be no countermeasures against other detection methods, so "Bat's Scream" came in handy.

  Of course, for those cunning mages who knew in advance that there was a magic called "Bat's Scream", they still had ways to avoid it. At least Lucien knew that he could use intangibility or spiritualization and then cast a spell to cover his own spiritual light, so the reasonable choice of magic in a mage's battle is also a major part of their actual strength.

  If it weren't for the apprentice-level magic, there would be very little magic related to light, and Lucien even thought of constructing a heat-detecting infrared type of magic, after all, one more scouting magic meant one more safety.

  Waves of ultrasonic waves spread out from the black magical material in Lucien's hand like ripples on water, and whenever they encountered obstacles, those waves would return to the irregular spherical material, allowing the spiritual energy to concentrate above Lucien's mind, gradually revealing the surrounding scenery, even in the dark of night, as clear as day.

  Within a sphere of 100 meters radius with me as the center, except for inside houses which cannot be checked, there are only some mice without magical aura. Lucien judged the effect of the reconnaissance while regretting not having created infrared magic, otherwise he would have been able to see inside houses too. Wait, there's an owl on that tree, ah, it's Dororo, and on that other tree... there's a crow, heh, a crow.

  After seeing the crow, Lucien relaxed a lot. From his past experience, the owner of this crow should be a more cautious person who wouldn't take action without absolute certainty. During this period, he hadn't made any moves or contacted anyone, so he definitely hadn't exposed any information. It seemed that he still wanted to probe and observe him.

  The "Bat's Scream" magic ended, and the black grinding material in Lucien's hand became like wind-dried silk, turning into a pile of fine threads that slowly fell to the ground from between his fingers.

  This is the "Bat's Hypophysis", Lucien's own spiritual power can't support more than a certain degree of ultrasonic waves, and can only rely on the bat organ to complete the entire magic.

  Just as Lucien was about to continue observing for a while, waiting for no other abnormalities before going out to meet with Smeyer and the Sage, another magical apprentice suddenly spoke up: "Respected Professor, I think you should have arrived nearby, but are unwilling to come out perhaps because you saw me. Actually, it was my teacher who discovered the evil creature's tracks this time, he extends his goodwill to you, hoping to exchange with a profound magician like yourself."

  Deliberate changes cannot conceal her voice's special huskiness, she is the magical apprentice "White Honey".

  After hearing her words, Lucien judged for a moment, walked out of the shadow behind the house, as if emerging from darkness, and slowly walked towards the willow tree: "Thank your teacher on my behalf. Although I know there's a pair of eyes staring at us from that tree, I still want to formally thank him through you."

  "Professor, how did you know?!" White Honey was so surprised that she almost forgot to change her voice. She turned her head to look at the tree, but in the dense darkness, she couldn't see anything. [How could he have discovered Ashley? In this darkness, and with the magical glow concealed.]

  As for this professor, Ba Mi T'ang felt even more mysterious and strange.

  The crow seemed to have been struck by lightning and almost fell from the branch, fortunately it spread its wings in time, circled around once, and flew away in another direction.

  The wise man and Smayle did not expect to be followed and stared at by another magician's familiar, and they couldn't help but tremble. If it was a malicious magician, the two of them would be in danger. They looked at White Miel and said in an icy voice filled with anger: "You owe us an explanation."

  Baomi's expression was very proper, and he apologized sincerely: "I'm extremely sorry for hiding this from you. You can get a gift. The teacher just wanted to meet Professor. If he encounters danger while capturing evil creatures, the teacher can also help through Ashley. However, Ashley has already left."

  As for observing the strength of this mysterious magician "Professor", she didn't say it out loud, but everyone present understood.

  For a formal magician, Xianzhe and Smayle expressed their attitude with anger after that, but actually there was no other way out. The gap in strength was too big. If they killed White Honey for this matter, the crow might fly back immediately and kill them instead. So, seeing White Honey apologize and promise to make amends, both of them nodded: "I hope such things won't happen again in the future. This is Alto, if such a thing happens here, your teacher will be suspected of being an internal spy for the Church, and become the enemy of all magicians and magic apprentices." Last time, the female witch and the magician from the Magic Council headquarters were ambushed by the Church, many magicians and magic apprentices suspected that there was a spy inside.

  Lucien stepped forward, his raspy voice like a rusty sword: "Can you tell me where the evil creature is now."

  "In the old house of Baron Laurent in the noble district, his family had not awakened their blood power for three generations and could no longer hold important positions in the dukedom, so they had declined. The whole old house was very quiet with very few servants. Some time ago, when Ashley flew over at night, he heard a noisy sound inside. Out of curiosity, he flew down to take a look and found that it was a gathering, where people with the surname Ai were everywhere, and on a small altar in the middle, someone was trying to collect this power. That person was Baron Laurent himself. From his body, Ashley smelled a bit of an evil creature's scent." White Sugar explained what had happened clearly, worried that Professor would misunderstand:

  "After a period of observation, the teacher was certain that they would hold another gathering tonight and should have reached the crucial moment of worship."

  The sage nodded, his aged voice filled with many emotions: "Many of these nobles, when they have not produced a knight for several generations and cannot obtain holy water from the church, will seek all sorts of methods to stimulate their bloodline's power. Even if they know it is an enticement by devils or demons, they will still take the risk and try." He seemed to have seen many such things.

  To be a noble, whether it's a title or a territory, is hereditary, unless you violate the first ten articles of the sacred law, your lord will strip you of your title and territory. However, if several generations pass without anyone awakening their bloodline power, it means that this family has begun to decline, and people will openly or secretly use various means to swallow up their territory, until only a title remains, becoming a bankrupt noble. Such nobles, after a few more generations, even if not stripped of their titles, will have their glory forgotten, and in the end, they will be no different from commoners.

  Lucien had his own judgment about the course of events, thinking that the "White Silver Horn" cult had started to stir again after nearly two months of quietness: "Do you know the strength of that evil creature? And how to get to the noble district?"

  The noble district was surrounded by the inner city wall, at this time, the city gate had long been closed, unless it was a noble living inside, they might let the soldiers open it.

  "The teacher judged from the altar's specifications that it should be a low-ranking devil of ordinary knight level, but as long as it was destroyed before the ritual was completed, only the projection would remain at the level of a high-ranking knight attendant." White Sugar thought this wasn't a dangerous matter, just that she and Sage had confidence in eliminating this kind of devil's projection, while Professor was incredibly powerful, unknown which ring formal magician he was.

  The wise one followed up by saying: "White Honey didn't know how to get in touch with the owl, so she went through me. As it happens, I knew a secret path that could be used to enter the noble district at night, so we followed together to guide Professor for you. With your previous guidance, my magic model is almost complete. If Professor allows it, I'd like to take action myself. An enemy of this level doesn't require your intervention."

  For Professor, Xianzhe was very grateful. When he knew that the teacher of White Honey was still doubting Professor's strength and wanted to observe through this matter, he suddenly felt a little fear. He feared that his idealized image of Professor would be shattered, and that Professor would be killed by White Honey's teacher for exposing his true strength, leaving him without anyone to consult in the future. Under the influence of these two emotions, he proposed slightly impulsively.

  Lucien was worried that getting involved with the "Silver Horn" cult would lead to variables in this matter, and the stronger his side was, the safer he would be. The wise man might have a magical item similar to the "Ice Snow Avenger", so after thinking for a moment, he nodded and said: "After things are over, you can ask me one question."

  As long as you get the vengeful spirit powder and shake off the others, you'll be able to disappear from the magic circle for a while, so there's no need to worry about being seen through and having your strong image collapse.

  "May I assist you, Professor?" White Sugar said on one hand to make up for the earlier discourtesy and on the other hand since Ashley the crow had flown away, it was now up to her to observe the professor's abilities.

  Lucien naturally agreed and handed over the hostages, how could he possibly refuse.

  Smile thought for a long time, he himself was able to contact Professor, and his status in the circle had improved significantly. If he were to be robbed by Xianzhe and White Sugar, he would lose both the witch and the professor's relationship, and with his relatively weak strength in the circle, he might become more and more marginalized in the future, which would not be conducive to his own progress, so he also begged to go.

  Then, under the leadership of the wise man, Lucien and others headed in the direction of the noble district.